43rd Member of Local 'Latin Kings' Drugs-and-Murder Gang Pleads Guilty
PHILADELPHIA (CBS) - It's a clean sweep for federal prosecutors in Philadelphia.
Forty-three members and associates of the notorious Latin Kings who were charged with murder, conspiracy to commit murder, and other crimes have all pleaded guilty.
Virtually all of the defendants were based in the Bethlehem, Pa. area but their crimes reached into Philadelphia and South Jersey.
The last of the 43 defendants, Carlos Martinez, pleaded guilty today in federal court to conspiracy to commit murder. Authorities say it was a plot to slaughter members of the Vineland, NJ chapter, thwarted in 2004 by authorities who made arrests in Vineland and recovered four automatic weapons and body armor.
"Philadelphia (gang members) asked the Bethlehem Sun Tribe to bring guns to help them go out and attack New Jersey members," says prosecutor Seth Weber. "So they had a meeting in Bethlehem, and Bethlehem agreed to do it. Bethlehem Sun Tribe members brought guns (and) a bulletproof vest, came to Philadelphia and met with the Philadelphia Kings, (then) travelled to Vineland, New Jersey. Luckily the attack was thwarted by police who got tipped off that this war was going to take place."
And Weber says other defendants committed murder and plotted other murders:
"One of our conspiracies involved a conspiracy to murder a Latin King member because he was cooperating with law enforcement in another murder that involved the Latin Kings."
Sentencing has been set for a later date.
Reported by Tony Hanson, KYW Newsradio 1060
